PLA PREVIEW

“I’ve heard from so many librarians who are like, ‘Why am I showing up?’ They love the kids and they love what they do, but they’ve been so beaten down for three and a half years. It’s exhausting,” Jensen says. “But I think it’s worth emphasizing that this is far from over.”

Furthermore, while the battle is often pitched as a fight over the freedom to read— which it certainly is—Jensen says the key to pushing back is recognizing what these attacks on libraries really are: an attack on people. “The higher-level stuff is really leaning into the fact that queer people exist, that Black and brown people exist, and that their stories deserve to be told,” she says. “It is not racist to talk about slavery. It is not racist to talk about systematic discrimination in policing. And anybody who feels that it is, that’s the one who needs help. But libraries can’t help that. What libraries can do is continue to make sure that the resources are there for the people who are being targeted.”

Alcántara-Antoine agrees, and she sees PLA as in a position to help. “We have core values that unite all of us as librarians—access to information, intellectual freedom, equity, and digital equity, making sure that we’re serving everyone in our community and having diverse voices reflected in our collection,” she says. “And it’s helpful for people to have resources like the PLA conference to reaffirm our values and why we do what we do. We recognize that librarians face a lot of really daunting challenges, but also opportunities. And I absolutely do believe that there is strength in unity.”